The Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo is four years going and shows no signs of slowing

It’s a must for custom car enthusiasts in southern Ontario, and the most recent stop Jesse Henke made on the tour one of his latest builds, a 1965 Oldsmobile 442 nicknamed “The Getter,” was making around the show circuit.

“We had its debut last year at SEMA [in Las Vegas], then it was at the Detroit Autorama last week, and now it’s here at Motorama,” Henke, owner of Windsor, Ontario-based JH Restorations, says. “The car was just finished — it’s probably got 50 miles on it.”

The Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo has been drawing the newest and coolest custom car builds, hot rod projects and the enthusiasts who love them to the Toronto’s International Centre every spring for four years now, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Hundreds of custom cars from all genres share space under the rafters of the convention halls, and repeat entries are few and far between.

Celebrity personalities like former Overhaulin’ host Courtney Hansen, Drag Week champion David Schroeder and Vegas Rat Rods mechanic Twiggy Tallant add even more incentive, and help draw in massive crowds.

We’ve got the highlights of some of the more unique cars from the show to give you an idea of exactly what makes this show so great.

Andrew Legacy’s 1956 Chevrolet 3100 may look old-school, but almost the entire build is constructed from new parts, assembled by Cambridge, Ontario’s Hitman Hotrods. A GM LS3 V8 resides under the miles-deep wine-red paint on the hood, and the clean build is highlighted by massive chrome five-spokes.

Nicholas Maronese, Driving

John Strauss hasn’t done a whole of custom bodywork to his ’70 Charger, but he doesn’t need to: that crowd-pleasing FC7 Plum Crazy paint does all the work of turning heads on its own. If someone your head was turned the wrong way, though, the note from 440-stroked-to-505-cubic-inch V-8 will get your ear at least, and hopefully the rest of your attention will soon follow.

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Percy Adler is a huge fan of Tazio Nuvolari, which is why he named his homebuilt hot rod after the Italian Grand Prix champion. Adler himself has raced most of his life, and after finding too many faults with the Lola he was piloting, decided to scratchbuild his own race car. Wife Joan suggested he try his hand at a road car, which is what you see here. The car is perfectly dialed-in for better-than-you-can-imagine handling and road manners.

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David Schroeder speaks with a fan in front of his 1966 Corvette dragster. Sure, anyone can build a tube-frame car capable of 6.57-second quarter-mile times, but can they road trip that same car over 1,600 km? Toronto-based Schroeder can and did, as part of last year’s HOT ROD Magazine Drag Week competition. He came first, making it the whole route and logging the lowest average E.T., at 6.81 seconds.

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JH Restorations’ latest build, “The Getter,” looks clean, but aside from smoothing over one or two pieces of trim, it’s basically all stock 1965 Oldsmobile 442 on the outside. Under the skin, however, the car saw a new LS motor added and interior pieces from a 2014 model year vehicle fitted for modern comfort. “The Getter” made its debut at SEMA and was showcased at Detroit’s Autorama before hitting Toronto.

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The famous Ringbrothers’ latest creation, a 1972 AMC Javelin named “Defiant!”, was a highlight of the Prestone booth, showing off its 1,036-horsepower Hellcat V-8. The legendary Wisconsin-based builders admittedly fixed the proportions of the obscure muscle car by moving the front wheels six inches forward, but we’re still irked their canvas was a trapped-in-the-’70s street machine survivor.

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James Bowler’s 1957 Jeep Forward Control (FC) 150 was competing in the barn find class, and we’ve got to ask: when’s the last time you saw an FC Jeep, in a barn or not? It’s hard not to fall in love with this thing. It’s somehow both cute and rugged, cool and friendly.

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Don Hamilton’s 1937 Ford pickup custom is what we call a “phantom” — a body style that theoretically could have been offered by the factory but never was. By grafting the nose of a passenger car onto a truck cab and bed, Hamilton’s add style to what was once a work vehicle. Touches Ford wouldn’t have even hypothetically added in ’37? Massive Billet Specialties five-spokes that fill out the wheel wells and give it the perfect rake.

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Kevin Flanigan of Lancaster, New York brought his lovely ’69 Camaro SS all the way north of the border and we’re thankful. The Chevy looks stock, but sits on a completely overhauled chassis centered around a 509-horsepower 427-cubic-inch V8. The interior got some new kit, too, including a retro-style reupholstering in Italian leather.

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This beach bus is the bomb, and we’re not just saying that ‘cause it’s a slick 21-window. Patrick Rushe’s ’67 Volkswagen has dropped the original powerplant in favour of a Porsche 914 2.0-litre. That motivation is matched by Porsche brakes, which slow 17-inch Forged Iozzio wheels.

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Who says a sports car can’t be practical? Tudor Randell has made some utilitarian modifications to his 1976 Corvette, including swapping in the rear hatch from a ’90 Corvette, fitting 2004-model-year vehicle headlights, and adding front seats and rears from a 2014 Acura, converting the ’Vette into a 2+2 so he can haul his grandkids around with him. He says the 400-horsepower custom is a “cruiser,” and judging by the tent trailer he was towing, we’d believe him.

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After seeing one car after another with a “belly-button” LS or Chevy small-block under the hood, Keith McIntyre’s 1927 Ford was a relief. For something a little different, the traditional-style rod rocks an Oldsmobile Rocket engine, topped off by a sweet six-carb arrangement.

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Cory Harrison’s 1956 Mercury Montclair Convertible is a mild custom, meaning it’s mostly stock with a few subtle modifications. A Continental kit, some spotlights, fender skirts and wire wheels make up the bulk of the changes, with that lovely Persimmon paint doing the rest of the work of catching your eye.

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This 1950 Studebaker dragster “B-50 Stude” is a tribute to the “Memphis Belle” B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of the Second World War. Unlike the aircraft, though, Anton Lanesky’s Champion Starlight Coupe gets power from a big-block Chevy V-8, and puts the gobs of torque it puts out through some slightly-wider-than-average slicks.

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The highlight of Jeff Ferguson’s ’30 Model A rat rod build is without a doubt its wild wrapped-and-warped headers. We’ve never seen a set of exhaust manifolds quite that spaghetti-y before, but now that we have, we dig it big-time.

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Don Gasiunas' 1947 Buick Super 8 Convertible "Marilyn" has seen a tonne of subtle tweaks, though we'd say the 580-hp supercharged LSA underhood counts as one of the not-so-subtle ones.

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Samantha Vielkiekas’ “Green Monster” 2013 Hyundai hasn’t seen a whole lot of modifications made to it, but the most apparent one is pretty trick: a lace paint job on the hood. The old-school technique dates back to the ’60s, and involves shooting a secondary colour over a painted panel through your mother’s tablecloth, or something like it. Sounds silly, but makes for a cool effect!

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Glenn McCullagh has made just a few tasteful tweaks to this 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger, including taking the original dark green up to a much brighter Citron Yella lime-yellow and fitting a Six Pak three-carb intake from a ’Cuda to the 1970 340 V-8.

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Robert Chiusano’s “Split Second” ’63 Corvette custom is just clean all-over, with flush-fitted glass and de-contented bodywork. We fell most in love with the engine bay, though, especially those fluted trumpets on the crossed intake runners.

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Owner Paul Henderson did all his own work on this wild ’41 Willys, including upholstery and paint. The massive blower and Performer carbs make the 525-horsepower small-block Chevy V-8 look way bigger than it is, but our favourite touch is the true-fire flames.